Laura Dahlmeier sustainably shaped the German biathlon sport. Even though she ended her career at the age of 25. An obituary for a special athlete.
If you are looking for pictures of Laura Dahlmeier on the Internet, you usually come across a laughing face. Whether at biathlon, in nature or at charity: Dahlmeier smiles. The German double Olympic champion radiated an infectious joie de vivre, her enthusiasm was honest.
She also showed such honesty in summer 2019 when she announced her career end. At the age of only 25 she stopped biathlon. Seven world championship titles, two Olympic gold medals, numerous World Cup victories. It was enough for them. “Today I am at the point where I don’t know what a goal I should do,” she said at the time. In addition, she was “no longer 100 % convinced of it” to want to do biathlon at a top level. Queen Laura stepped down.
Her end of career was a shock for fans and experts, for herself it was a liberation. “I felt a bit limited in the biathlon circus. That is very rigid,” she later said in the ZDF documentary “Laura Dahlmeier and the intoxication of the height”. “Anyone who knows me knows that I quickly get bored. I always need change.”
She distinguished this consequence. While other athletes are aware of how short their own career is and therefore try to take as much money as possible in the 10 to 20 years, Dahlmeier put an end to it. Because it didn’t fulfill them. Because she no longer gave her a joie de vivre. Because it no longer challenged them. She disappeared from the very big spotlight, with biathlon she only appeared as an expert for the ZDF.
In her everyday life she followed her great passion: the mountains. Here she felt free, here she felt challenged. “I’m a child of the mountains,” she wrote in her book “If I do something, I’ll do it”. “The most beautiful thing I can imagine is when I am out on the mountain with loved ones. Then I’m completely satisfied. For me, that’s pure, real life.”
She also shared this pure, real life with her fans. On their Instagram profile, photos from Nepal, Italy, Austria and Germany can be found. Bergspitze around Bergspitze climbed the German exceptional athlete – always with a smile on her face.
To confuse your joy with negligence would be a mistake. Dahlmeier knew the risk of her hobby. “I am aware that there is an alpine and that it also carries a risk of being on the go,” she said in her ZDF documentary. On a tour with her father, she once fell because a handle had broken out. “I am now much more sensitive when it comes to brittle rock. Simply that you notice: you are not immortal either,” she said.
Nevertheless, she didn’t want to let her passion rest. She wanted to experience something, celebrate new successes, feel her freedom. Laura Dahlmeier died where she felt the most lively – in the mountains.
Laura Dahlmeier died in Pakistan at the age of 31. She leaves a father, a mother and a brother.